Ramesh Nair on Crafting Joseph Duclos from Museum Objects and Artisan Skill

Ramesh Nair, artistic director of the leather house Joseph Duclos, has built his career on the primacy of the artisan and the value of museum research. Trained in ready-to-wear, he spent over a decade at Hermès under Martin Margiela and Jean Paul Gaultier, learning that sketches alone are insufficient without detail and precision. In 2010, Bernard Arnault tasked him with reviving Moynat, which he rebuilt from a monogram, archival photocopies, and two trunks. A decade later, Franck Dahan handed him Joseph Duclos, an 18th-century tannery dormant for over a century. With no archive, Nair turned to museums, studying historical objects and leather uses from 1754 to the early 1800s, when most leather went to the military or chairs. He launched the house with fewer than 600 handbags annually, now worn by collectors, first ladies, and pop stars. Key design elements include Passementerie shoulder straps—each taking three to four days to make, using three or four leathers—and the fourragère closure inspired by a Musée de l’Armée visit during COVID, where a military uniform and a statue of Diana the Huntress connected with the Fountain of Diane at the original tannery. Nair avoids mood boards, preferring to collect historical objects. The brand’s understated quality attracts a community without advertising, echoing how kings and queens once sought artisans. Future lines will be organic, maintaining top-notch quality.